


The Wayfinders

by RockSaltandCherryPie



Category: Disney - Fandom, Disney Princesses, Moana (2016)
Genre: Accidental Plot, F/M, Kissing, hooked wayfinder, moaui - Freeform, underage intoxication (it's not really alcohol)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-05
Updated: 2017-02-24
Packaged: 2018-09-22 06:31:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9588902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RockSaltandCherryPie/pseuds/RockSaltandCherryPie
Summary: Set a few months after Te Fiti, Moana and Maui set off on another journey across the sea when strange things start happening on Motunui.





	1. What is wrong with me?

**Author's Note:**

> Edit 2/21/17: title change!!
> 
> Contains Moana/Maui even though by American standards she is "underage." Do not read if that bothers you. 
> 
> This was supposed to be a oneoff, but I fear this is going to be an ongoing series... because I can't bring it upon myself to stop any time soon. Moana & Hooked Wayfinder is my new obsession and I don't care who knows it. Join me if that's your jam too and we can sail this ship together (haha get it)  
> Enjoy, fellow wayfinders!
> 
> Disclaimer: I am neither Polynesian nor a scholar on Polynesian culture, therefore my work is not to be taken as historical or cultural fact in any way. It is merely a fictional work on the movie Moana. 
> 
> (This chapter was largely inspired by thezestycadenski who made me realize it was okay to shamelessly ship it and even better, to write it.)

It had been several months since Moana was chosen by the ocean itself to sail the sea, restore the heart of Te Fiti and save her island. Kind of a lot to put on a 16 year-old if you were asking her. But she hadn't regretted it for a moment. Since then, she had discovered everything she ever could have hoped to about herself and about her people.

They were voyagers. The best in the world. And Moana had been the one to remind them of that. It had been the greatest joy of her young life.

They sent ships out at the beginning of every month. Moana recently returned from a month-long voyage that took her and her fellow sailers to a small yet fruitful island, and it was there that she really got to know Hohona. Back on Motunui, she had only recalled speaking to him if it was regarding fish or canoes, but the voyage had brought about long hours trying to stay awake at sea and long chats while exploring the island's dense forest. Moana had grown more than accustom to glancing upward and spotting a giant brown hawk, the familiar tattooed wings always soaring above in close proximity. It was a sight she at once found utterly irritating and yet most endearing. Hohona never noticed Maui. He was usually too caught up in what he was talking about to look at anything other than the ground or Moana. He had this way of looking at Moana, like he saw everything that was there when he looked into her eyes: the first time she cracked open a coconut. The first time she held an oar. Like he lived through it all with her. She should probably really like Hohona. Her father even mentioned in passing that they were a fine match. Grandma Tala might have even agreed. But for some reason, and Moana keeps trying to tell herself she needs to get out of her head, she doesn't feel anything more than friendship when it comes to Hohona.

Which is why Moana has a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach when she's sitting on the shore on Motunui beside Hohona, and he's leaning in towards her, chin extending and shoulders inching closer. She gives in and allows their lips to press together because she knows that's what she should be doing, but she doesn't feel much other than the way his mouth quivers with hers. He's being really gentle, tender even. It isn't long before Moana realizes this is her first kiss. Kau'i, a stubborn boy that used to sit next to her during Grandma Tala's storytelling didn't count. She was six. She had found it disgusting then and she wasn't sure if she thought any differently of it now.

She retreats, looking away and tucking a loose lock behind her ear. It wasn't that it was a terrible kiss, it just wasn't what she wanted to be doing right now. Her mind wanders to the ocean as she listens to the waves crash against the sand, the way it seems to almost lull her to another state of being. She is reminded of her first voyage when she distanced herself from Motunui for the first time, many months ago. She is reminded of when she first met Maui, and how intimidated she had been by that big pain-in-the-butt. And how the two of them sailed and followed the stars and breathed air nobody else ever had. And instantly she wanted _more._ She wanted the sea breeze to wind through her hair, she wanted Maui to sing his stupid songs. She wanted to _feel._

"Hohona..." She starts, feeling the sand beneath her fingers as she presses her palm to the ground.

"Is everything okay?" He says in that gentle way she's used to. It's so tender it sends a chill up her spine. She should like him.

"Yeah." She starts to stand, brushing the sand from her 'ie. "I'm sorry."

He seems to register her discomfort, but he doesn't try to follow her as she stands.

She tries to make it seem nonchalant, like getting up while you're in the middle of kissing someone is completely normal. "I'm... I gotta go... I'm sorry." She awkwardly stumbles away, away from the situation, away from Hohona's sweet-talking voice. As she turns, however, she hears him call her name.

She swiftly halts in place and blinks, taking a deep breath in before turning to look at him. He's just sitting there, completely bewildered, alone under the light of the moon.

"Is it me?" He asks faintly, so quiet the wind could have swept it away. But it didn't. And Moana cringes and instantly feels a wave of guilt wash over her. Because he's done everything right. He's been a good, true friend. He's always honest. He doesn't try to tell her she can't do something. He doesn't tell annoying jokes like Maui, jokes that aren't even funny but you can't help but laugh at. He...

"No," she replies softly, letting the breeze carry her words to Hohona.

She turns before she can watch the way his eyes lower.

 

Her feet take her to the forest, to a place she knows well. Ever since Te Fiti, Moana pretty much insisted Maui find a place to call his own on Motunui. Much like herself, he was definitely not the sedentary type. But he couldn't find it in him to refuse the daughter of the chief. He stays in a dense area of the Lau forest where he's built himself a small yet cozy hut, complete with pure white cowry shells (a shell typically representative of royalty) hanging throughout the interior. Maui thought pretty highly of himself, after all. Maui's hut is the place Moana spends most of her time. She told her father after the events with Te Fifi that she wasn't comfortable with being village chief just yet, and complying, he decided remain in the position. For now, at least. So when Moana isn't away on a voyage, she and Maui spend most of their free time at his hut. She's grown quite fond of the way the sugar cane leaves sound like the ocean when the wind rustles them up, and the way Maui always keeps a fire lit when night falls.

She feels the tenseness in her body falling away as soon as she sees him, massive square body hovered over a small fire, prodding at it with a piece of bark. She sighs as she approaches and her body loosens. She feels the butterflies fly out of her stomach and up into the trees.

"Maui," she starts, coming over and seeking out her usual stump to sit on.

"Hey, Curly, how goes it?" Maui's shoulders straighten as he tosses the stick into the flame.

It's nothing new for Moana to be coming here in the middle of the night. Whenever she's bored, stressed or even if she ate too much and has a stomach ache, she comes to Maui. She guesses it's something of an accomplishment to say that your best friend's a demigod. She's still not used to it. But he is. And she wouldn't have it any other way. His deep, guttural voice at once soothes her and excites her. She feels not only right at home when she's with him, but just _right._ Like they were destined to meet, to be together. She guesses that's how everyone feels about their best friend, though. Like there are endless adventures that are just waiting to be had. Like escaping to the sea together is always an option, however suppressed at the far corners of her subconscious that notion may be.

Still, she's getting older and she's been entertaining the idea of finding someone to... well, someone to be with. In the village. Which is why Hohona seemed appealing to her in the first place. But kissing him tonight made her realize something. She didn't feel the way she thought she would. And she wasn't sure why.

"Thought you were with Hohona tonight," he remarks, standing and retrieving a coconut from a basket by the doorway of his hut. He sits back down and begins shredding it with a large knife. It's become one of his past times. He said he used to use the fibers to make things on the island he was marooned on, and since then he'd just become accustom to busying his hands with the task. Moana thinks he's making a mat for his floor. She's been watching his progress. It's looking pretty good.

"Yeah, I was..." she scratches nonchalantly at the back of her neck, pushing all of her hair over one shoulder. It's still a little damp from night-swimming with Hohona.

Maui doesn't question her. He just raises a brow in that funny way that makes her smile, and continues shredding.

"Maui, have you..." she starts, picking at her nails, "have you ever been in love?"

The question catches him offguard. His eyes widen, his lips purse ever so slightly. He's still, frozen. He remains pale and blank-faced so long Moana starts to ponder over asking the question again in case he hadn't heard correctly, but before she can he quickly snaps back to shredding the coconut that he's gripping.

So he doesn't want to answer. Fine. He can be that way for all she cares. She just wanted to know what —

"Once," he says. And it's broken and deep and so withdrawn Moana's breath hitches in her throat. "A long time ago."

She doesn't speak. She watches as his eyes begin to swim with memories, flooding in as he takes down the gate inside his mind.

"She was pretty. Used to always wear a pink flower behind her ear," a small smile forms on the corner of his mouth. Then, the fluid motion of his shredding falters for a fraction of a section. "She was a human."

Moana swallows. "What happened?" She asks gently.

There's a long silence as he contemplates letting the words out. He looks up finally, meeting her eyes. "Te Ka..." he shakes his head. "Te Fiti."

"What do you mean?" Moana's brows draw up.

He goes back to his work, this time with more force in each jerk of his arm. His shoulders are  square, his jaw clenched tight.

"Her island was destroyed."

It's all he says.

Moana feels a sinking, sickening feeling drop in her stomach. Her island was... "What?" That didn't make any sense. Maui was marooned on an island for who knows how long, unaware of the catastrophes that were taking place all over the sea because of his actions. That was what Moana thought. That was certainly what he'd led everyone to believe. But he was...

"You knew." Her eyes focus again and land on Maui. He meets her eyes under his dark curls, his own narrow and cold. "You knew the whole time what Te Fiti was doing... what was happening to the world." Her eyes start to fill with the realization. "And you did nothing."

"I couldn't do anything," his words are low, strained.

"You could have done _something_!" Her voice is raising and she can't help it. She recalls their first meeting, how charismatically upbeat he had been when he thought Moana had wanted an autograph. She had thought he was perfectly oblivious, a full-of-himself demigod who was still propped up straight on his high horse, unaware of what he had caused, what had been disrupted because of him. Never once had he revealed anything to the contrary.

"You could have gotten off that island somehow, you could have —"

"I didn't have my _hook,_ " now his voice raises to match hers. Probably in an attempt to get her to listen to him, but she isn't.

"If you knew what was going on you could have warned us! Do you have any idea how many islands were probably destroyed after hers?"

Now he busies himself with trying to crack the coconut open on the tree bark he's sitting on. He hits it, over and over and over.

"Motunui was next. My island! My home." Her vision goes a little fuzzy. She blinks. The coconut cracks and still he hits it until his fingers scrape the wood. "You could have helped us sooner, but all you ever think about is yourself! You never care —"

"I didn't _want_ to care!!!" He shouts over her, standing as the coconut rolls to the ground. Moana's heart skids over a beat and her breath catches in her chest. "Alright?! You happy?"

He's shouted at her before, but it's just been typical headstrong Maui stuff, nothing like this. She's still, unmoving. Suddenly she understands. She understands why he acts the way he does. She always just assumed it was because of his human parents and what they did to him. She never anticipated that it was anything more. But it all seems to make sense now. Why he pretty much hated Moana off the bat. Why he shuts people out. Why he's figuratively his own island. Moana never really got it before now. He shut it all off. Caring. _Loving_.

He's gone before she can say anything. Before she can apologize.

And Moana's left in front of the fire, alone, a chill still managing to creep its way up her spine.

 

xxx

 

When Maui returns, he's visibly more composed. He's collected more wood for the fire. Moana hasn't moved. She knew he would come back eventually. It's what usually happens when they get in a fight. Maui eventually comes around, unable to stay mad at her for too long. It's quiet while he places the wood in a neat pile beside the hut, and comes back to the fire to toss one gently in the middle of it. The wind gently rustles the tops of the kukui nut trees as Maui sits back down. He doesn't look at her.

"Maui..." she starts, trying to catch his eye. "I'm sorry..." she knows he wasn't the only one that yelled, she knows she said a few things she didn't mean, and she's also sorry that she wracked up old memories that he had apparently tried hard to forget.

He hesitates before looking up at her through the curls that have fallen in his face, but when he does, she offers him a weak smile.

"Sorry too." And his shoulders straighten a little.

"I just," she rubs at the inside of her knees. "I just wanted to know what it... what _love_ was like." She wanted to know so she could tell if she'd ever felt it before. If there was something wrong with her or not.

He puts a long, bouncy lock behind his ear. "Well, I'm not the right person to be asking." His gaze shifts and lands somewhere far off. "All I know is... I felt like a better person when I was with her." And that's all he really needs to say. Moana gets it.

Maui quickly realizes how uncomfortable he is so he changes the focus of the conversation and gets this smug look on his face. One she knows too well. One he uses when he's about to tease her. "So has the great Moana of Motunui ever been in love?"

She smiles, a heat rising up to her cheeks. Before she answers, she thinks. She's loved, sure, she loves her family, her mother and father and Grandma Tala. But _in_ love?

"No," she says plainly. And the single word sounds cold and sad.

Maui sighs and rests his elbows on his knees, square body hunching over. He watches her. "Word of advice from a demigod: you _can_ love something or someone without being _in_ love with them."

The air gets lighter and Moana smiles. "Like a friend?"

"Yeah, like a friend."

"Like you?"

"Yeah, like—" he cuts himself off and freezes. She feels herself suppressing a grin.

She realizes he was right. Loving someone and being _in_ love with someone were two completely different things. She did love Maui. He was big and stupid and annoying but she loved him. Looking at him now, and how easily she can make him turn red, there was absolutely no denying that.

 

xxx

 

It's late. Moana isn't sure just how late it is, and the fact that she can't see the stars isn't helping either. It's a cloudy night, but even if it wasn't, she isn't sure she'd be able to see them right now anyway. She and Maui have been sharing kava from a coconut ever since he produced it over two hours ago, and it's causing her head to become all muddled and fuzzy.

 _Trust me_ , he had said, _this stuff's fit for a king_.

She couldn't argue with that, so when he handed her the coconut, she took a sip. The first sip she took hadn't had her convinced. The tangy bitterness of the drink caused her to make a face that Maui found hilarious, but with each sip she took she hated it a little less. Soon she seemed to like it even more than Maui.

Her body felt loose, relaxed and unstrung. She could have collapsed on Maui and forgotten the rest of the world and been completely content. They'd been laughing about something for the past five minutes, or maybe it was forty-five minutes. She didn't know. About how funny Maui had looked as half-shark. She was imitating his fins for arms, flipping them around and making a shark face. Or, how sharks would look if they had faces. Human faces.

 _It's better than being half Heihei!_ Maui had argued and ever since then she couldn't contain the fit of laughter that erupted, she just couldn't stop _picturing_ it. Maui's legs with Heihei's head, or Heihei's legs with Maui's head. It was ridiculous. And Maui's voice was almost shot from laughing so hard, too.

After the flow of their giggles trickled away, Moana began to feel her eyes and limbs grow tired. She slumps against him now, letting his large, firm body support her. She's still kava-happy so she can't suppress the heat that takes to her cheeks when she realizes she can hear his heart beating. So demigods still had human hearts. She had been curious, after all, if he was mostly human on the outside. She lifts her arm slightly and fingers his tattoos, little pad of her fingertip tracing delicately over the ink. Mini Maui is asleep, head resting over his arm, all curled up like a cat. Guess it's even too late for a tattoo to stay awake. Beside him, where Moana's cheek is hovering, mini Moana stands proud with her canoe. She touches her, feeling the thrum of Maui's heart pulse continuously underneath the spiral on the mini sail.

"Does mini Moana move around like mini Maui?" Moana hears escaping her lips. It was what she was thinking, and she doesn't remember telling her mouth to speak, but oh well.

"No." She feels him speak more than hears it. Just a small vibration against her ear and her head nudges a little with it.

She leans up and realizes with sudden clarity that their faces are closer than she thought. She blinks slowly, forcing her eyes to open again. And she sees him there, feels him there, and is instantly alive and melting all at once.

"I do love you, Maui," she says on an unsteady breath, so quiet she wonders if he even heard her at all.

But he kind of stares blankly into her eyes, trying to read them. When he decides he can't, he turns away. "Alright, enough kava for you." He takes the coconut out of her hand (she wasn't even aware she was still holding it) and sets it down on the ground beside him.

A shiver replaces his body warmth until he comes back up. "No, Maui," she catches his eye again. "I'm serious."

And this time he really looks, harder this time, until he accepts it. His eyes sink, falling low to where she still wears the necklace Grandma Tala gave her. "Thank you."

She smiles wide, the kava making it hard to resist. "You're welcome," she says in a familiar tune, her sing-song voice soft and raspy from the drink. It makes Maui smirk, the corner of his mouth twitching up.

She leans in before she can stop herself. She's pretty sure she was going for a hongi but something else happens. She lets her lips press gently against his, closing her eyes. When she retreats, he hasn't budged. He's frozen, unblinking and rigid. She feels the heat radiating off of him in waves. Still, she watches. She waits. She doesn't know what just happened either, but she knows now's not the time to start caring. She'll bother with that tomorrow.

But then Maui shuts his eyes and this time when she leans in again, he unfreezes. She melts into him, her body crumpling as she feels his lips twine together with hers. She's drained and yet her whole body's alive, humming with excitement and pleasure. He doesn't hold her, almost like he's afraid she might not actually want this, (she does), but it's all Moana needs to feel his body there, so big and so comforting and so easy to fall apart. Her lips tingle with the gentle caress, every part of her waking up. And just when her brain begins to go all fuzzy, he withdraws.

Her lips throb in time with her heart, the cool breeze from the east able to come between them now.

"I'm sorry..." she whispers, afraid to say anything else.

He doesn't look at her. She can't read him for the first time in a long time. "You should get some sleep," he says simply.

She doesn't argue. She stands, realizing how weak her knees are, and goes over to the tapa covering the ground. She lies on her side, feeling the wind at her neck and the ghost of a kiss still on her lips.

She shuts her eyes and then feels herself being covered by another cloth, her shoulders instantly retaining the warmth. She sighs deeply, exhaling on a shaky breath, and starts to wonder what in the world just happened. Kava happened. That was it. She and Maui were just... were just friends. There was no way anything else could happen. Was there?

Anyway, now was definitely not the time to ponder over it. After a few moments, Moana's eyes fall shut again for a final time before the morning comes.


	2. The Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's no ordinary storm that hits Motunui. Something is wrong...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told you. I told you this was turning into a full on series. And I am not ashamed.
> 
> Oh! I forgot to say that one specific scene in here is completely inspired by Youkaiyume's art. (I will add the link asap!)

Moana wakes on her side, blinking sleep-fuzzy eyes open to the image of Heihei plucking repeatedly at the dry earth beside her head.

She pushes herself up on her elbows, the tapa gently falling away. She briefly looks around. The fire's died out, the stump of the tree beside her vacant. "Maui?" Her voice is soft and raspy. Heihei briefly looks up, cocks his head around in almost a complete 360, and then continues with his inane activity.

Moana sighs as she stands, straightening out her lavalava, and gazes up above the trees. The sky is darker than usual, the clouds twisting and curling into each other at a slow, steady pace. She feels a slight chill in the air, one the wind seems to carry as it passes through her, but she stands her ground.

There is a rustling behind her. She spins around and sees Maui emerging from the trees, carrying a sack of eggs in one hand and two pitchers of water in the other. Typically, it's difficult for Moana to carry the wai from the stream to the village, especially if she's carrying more than one pitcher. But Maui does it with abnormal ease, his arms slinging back and forth as he takes large strides up to the clearing.

"Morning, Curly," he tosses his head to the side so that his locks bounce away from his face. He shoots her a familiar, light-hearted smirk. "Got some breakfast."

Now, in the light of the day, Moana can recall clearly the events of the night prior, and upon seeing Maui, her face instantly burns. She still isn't quite sure why she had kissed him but the way Maui seemed to bounce right back into their old quips and banter made it easy to not quite regret it either. They sit and cook the eggs over the fire, Maui's specialty according to him. Moana would never give him the satisfaction of telling him she likes the way he cooks them best.

Hastened footsteps approach the clearing and Moana turns around. Chief Tui appears, out of breath.

"Father," Moana starts, setting down her plate of food.

"Where have you been, Moana?" His deep voice resonates with worry and concern. "There's a storm coming. We have to prepare the village for its approach."

Moana glances at Maui as if he might have any idea what's going on. He doesn't. His brow furrows in interested contemplation. Storms don't occur on the island anymore. Not since they restored the heart.

Moana quickly follows her father down to the village.

 

The day is busy with securing the hale with fishnets to protect the thatching from the wind and rain. They use almost all of the nets on the hale closest to the shore, which will likely be hit the hardest. All of the canoes are taken in to the cove and tied up, out of reach from the sea, ensuring their safety from the tide that was sure to rise tonight.

The storm approaches slowly, coming in from the east, the wind picking up a little as night falls. Most of the villagers gather together to cook outside their homes and eat dinner as a community, sharing the fire to roast the beef or salmon and fry the rice and sweet potatoes.

Moana sits with her mother and father on a laid-out orange and green tapa that Grandma Tala had made years ago. Pua prances over and sits down in Moana's lap.

"Hey, keiki," Moana pats his head and he gives her a happy little grunt.

It had been a long day and Moana's feet are sore. She lets herself relax as she eats her dinner, the warmth from the nearby fire soothing her. The beef is good tonight, tender and sweet. Pua snorts and she looks down at him. He's eagerly sticking out his snout, sniffing for food. Moana chuckles. She reaches down and picks up a handful of rice to offer him. He laps it up contently, tickling her hand with his tongue.

A buzzing to Moana's left, right near her ear, makes her swat at the air. But then something lands on her shoulder, surprisingly heavy for it's tiny size, and it makes her cock her head to look at it. A familiar yellow-green beetle sits there, staring at her. It even says _pssst_.

"Maui?" She gapes, trying hard to contain a burst of laughter.

"Shhh, keep quiet," he says in a hilariously too-deep voice for a tiny beetle.

She tries to conceal her amusement but fails. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm still not welcome at the family dinner, but that doesn't mean I can't be _present_ at the family dinner," his little beetle-face smirks slyly.

It was true, Dad hadn't been too friendly with Maui upon meeting him, given that he was basically the reason Motunui almost got destroyed, and there could also be the slightest possibility that Dad didn't like Moana spending all her time with this up-to-no-good demigod (not that that ever stopped her). It had been four months, and Dad was showing no sign of rolling out the welcome-to-our-island mat any time soon, so they found ways around it. Like... now, for instance.

"I could have squashed you," she notes quietly with a mouthful of beef. Luckily, her parents are too busy talking amongst themselves to notice anything out of the ordinary.

"Curly, I've been thinking," Maui starts, clinging on to her shoulder with his little beetle legs. "After this storm lets up, whaddya say we take to the sea for a bit? Just the two of us."

He always gets more honest, more open with her when he's in another form. She's not quite sure why, but she finds it strangely endearing. She's been waiting for him to suggest something like this. She would've herself soon enough. More than anything she wants to be on the ocean again with Maui. She feels the ache, the deep yearning for the waves, the stars. For something she hasn't been able to satiate since she restored the heart to Te Fiti.

"I've been thinking about it for a while, and I think we should just go."

Moana's pulse quickens upon hearing his words, because she could not agree more. They may disagree on a lot of things, but this was one thing they were always on the same page with. She feels her lips curl into a smile.

"So whaddya say we find some new islands, name some stars?"

Moana's heart swells. "I'd like that."

"Moana," her father's voice penetrates her thoughts. She looks up, eyes widened. "What do you think about that?"

She blinks dumbly. "About — about what?" She's apparently not very good at playing things cool.

"If we should make more fishnets after the storm has passed." Her dad seems mildly unamused by having to repeat this information. "This way we'll be more prepared the next time a storm passes through."

"Oh!" She squeaks. "Yes! Yes, I agree." Her dad still stares blankly. "And this way we'll have enough to cover the fishing grounds on the south side of the reef as well."

With that, her father nods and returns to his conversation with Sina.

Moana lets out a relieved breath and eyes beetle-maui. He's not trying to hide his amusement. She rolls her eyes a little, though she finds it hard to do anything but smile at the tiny demigod on her shoulder. "Just be lucky my father didn't see you," she whispers at him. Pua snorts and she feeds him more rice.

"Chief Tui would harm a poor, innocent little bug such as myself?" Maui gets this sarcastic look on his miniature bug-face, and it makes Moana start to giggle.

"Oh, he would," she plays along, raising her brow. "And you're far from innocent."

"Just make sure he doesn't flick me. I'd probably fly all the way into the ocean from here."

A burst of uproarious laughter escapes Moana's throat at the image of Tui flicking little Maui to oblivion.

Both her parents stare at her like she's sprouted an extra limb.

 

xxx

 

The storm persists through the night. All of the villagers have no choice but to retreat to their homes and wait it out. Maui returned to his hut to try and keep it safe. It's the biggest storm to hit in thirty years, according to Chief Tui. The thatching of the hale holds up, though just barely. It wasn't made to withstand this kind of wind. Moana actually finds herself frightened, comforting Pua as they listen to the thunder crack and the rhythm of the heavy rain as it crashes down on the roofs. Heihei sits in a corner stunned, frozen in terror. Moana utters comforting words to him as her mother paces. Tui stands in the doorway, contemplating.

"I'm going to go make sure everyone's alright," he decides, and Sina is instantly at his side.

"You can't go out in this!" She panics, holding his arm. "You could get hurt!"

Moana springs up. "I'll go."

Her father disregards her emboldened offer. "No, Moana. It's too dangerous. I'll be back soon."

 

She waits with her mother under the shelter of the hale, but it isn't long before Moana starts pacing herself. What if her father was hurt? What if one of the villagers was seriously injured, or the nets over the thatching didn't hold? What if somebody was in trouble?

"I have to go," she says after half an hour of Pua watching her walk back and forth and back and forth.

"Moana, no," Sina insists, even though she knows it's pointless to try and stop Moana from doing something once she sets her mind to it.

"Mom, I have to," Moana reasons. "Dad could be in trouble."

Sina can't do anything to stop her.

Moana bursts out of the shelter and into the storm, the wind almost knocking her off her feet. The rain pours down on her, soaking her completely. The village is at the mercy of this tempest, the humble homes trying their hardest to protect their inhabitants, the tall trees nearby swaying dangerously back and forth. Moana halts for a brief moment in the middle of it all as thunder cracks loud above her to glance over at a dark, black sea. Lightning strikes down upon the viscious tide in the distance.

"Moana!" She hears a distant voice calling her. She whips around, her hair getting caught up and tangled, and runs to where she sees commotion.

A large ironwood tree has cracked and fallen in place and Inina and her grandson are huddled around it.

"It's your father!" Inina exclaims, and Moana's heart leaps.

She rushes over as the image before her comes into view. Her father is trapped beneath the fallen tree — or at least, his foot is, and it looks as though Inina and her grandson have been trying to pry him free.

"Father!" Moana cries out above the wind, rushing over to his side.

"I'm fine," his voice is coarse. "My foot is caught."

"What happened?" She panics, taking in the situation.

Inina huddles over him. "Liko's turtle was beneath the cracked tree," Moana glances at the little boy, fear in his eye as he clutches on to a small turtle, protecting it from harm. Moana feels nothing but familiar compassion as she looks upon the two of them.

"He went to retrieve him just as the tree was falling, and Tui saved him just in time," Inina has to shout over the torrential rain, the wind ripping violently through the village. They had to get to shelter. Fast.

"Dad," Moana shouts, the shake in her voice masked by hardness of her tone. "We're gonna get you out of here." She isn't quite sure how, but she knows she will.

She tries alone to move the tree. Luckily, it isn't one of the larger ironwoods that are on the upper west side of the island. This one is just small enough to not cause any serious damage, and just large enough to be too heavy to move on her own. Still, she tries with all her might. Liko isn't strong enough to help, he isn't even five years old. Inina's bones are becoming more fragile with her age. Moana feels the panic begin to set in again as she continues to try in vain to make the tree budge. Her father cries out in pain. She has to find another way.

Moana whips her head around, looking for a solution. And then she finds it.

"Father, hold on! I'll be right back," she cries as she stands and her feet run as fast as they can to the hale her eye caught from a distance.

She rushes to the doorway of the hale and the inhabitants inside rise to meet her. Moana stares upon the concerned faces of Hohona and his three brothers.

"I need your help," she gasps, and they all snap into action. They follow Moana to the fallen tree as fast as their feet allow. The rain makes it hard to run, the ground splashing and sinking with every step.

"Chief Tui!" The eldest brother, Makai exlaims as they approach.

"I'm fine," Tui repeats, though he appears to be in serious agony.

"On three!" Moana shouts, and they position themselves around the tree, three on one side, two on the other.

Together they heave with all their might, and it's just enough for Tui to wiggle his foot free. They release it when they're sure Tui is out of the way, and it splashes down into the mud again, heavy and wet.

Moana helps her father stand. Hohona rushes to position himself under Tui's other arm.

"The rest of you, get back inside! And don't leave your homes until morning," Moana instructs as she walks with her limping father.

They all do as she says, rushing back to shelter.

Sina is instantly at Tui's side when they reach the house, demanding to know what happened. She tends to his broken foot as he lies back. Gently, she rubs the kalo root over his skin. He groans at first, but then he takes in a sharp breath and exhales long and steady. She holds a cup up to his face.

"Here, drink this." He takes a sip of the liquid inside, wincing as he swallows.

Moana can finally catch her breath. She's sopping wet from head to toe and filthy with mud. She feels a little better when she notices that Hohona looks exactly the same as she does. She would wash in the morning.

"We will go see Enoka tomorrow to help treat you," Sina tells Tui gently.

The glow from the burning kukui oil keeps them warm all night. It's hard to sleep with all of the commotion and everything that's happened, but Hohona stays there and it helps. Moana feels comforted by him, his body and his warmth, and grateful for his help.

 

Moana wakes up to a commotion outside. Her eyes slowly blink open. She hadn't realized, but at some point during the night she'd fallen on Hohona's shoulder. She slowly rises, blinking in the light. From inside, it was as though the storm had never happened. Hohona wakes too, watching as Moana composes herself. She doesn't make eye contact with him.

She stands, preparing herself to take in the aftermath of the storm.

"Moana," Hohona utters quietly from behind her. Only then does she meet his eye, if only for a second, before she lets out a soft breath and leaves. She doesn't stay to hear what he has to say. She's afraid she'll fall back into feeling guilty again.

 

The sun shines down as strong as ever on Motunui, making it easy to see just how much damage the storm had done. The ground is still squishy, the grass barely visible underneath all the water. The nets are coming off almost all of the roofs, but aside from small areas that would need fixing, the thatching has stayed put for the most part. The trees have swayed significantly every which way and stayed where they blew. All of the villagers are out assessing the damage.

Moana spots a crowd down by the shoreline. She rushes down and follows the line of the beach to where everybody seems to be looking. Over by the cove, she spots her mother and father finally.

"Father," she calls as she hurries over.

The cove is uncovered, the stream still. As she approaches, her father steps aside.

"What's wrong?" She starts, but then she sees. The cove is empty.

All of the canoes are gone.

Her pulse quickens, her breath faltering. "What?"

There were precisely ten double-hulled canoes and three smaller sailing canoes in the cove yesterday afternoon. Moana helped tie them all up. They were safe, sheltered. There was no way the storm could have washed one away let alone thirteen. She feels panic begin to set in. "How is this possible?"

"We don't know," Chief Tui replies in a gentle voice. He knows Moana cared for those canoes as though they each had a spirit of their own. He knows what this means for their people. Those canoes were passed down through the generations. They had seen them on countless voyages and journeys across the sea. Their loss meant an enormous loss for the entire island. To rebuild them all would take years. Years without voyaging.

"No," Moana hears the quiver in her own voice. She suddenly feels weak.

"Demigod, coming through," Maui's familiar booming voice reaches her and she takes in a sharp, almost relieved breath upon hearing it.

"Maui," she breaths, the name now second-nature on her lips.

He comes over, face dropping when he sees the empty cove.

"They're gone," she tells him. "They're all just... gone."

He frowns, considering the situation. His eyes dart from the empty cove to the sea, somewhere far off.

"What could have done this?" She asks, because she knows two things for certain: it wasn't a human, and it wasn't something natural. And Maui was an expert at all things unnatural.

"I don't know," he resolves finally, and it's at once ominous and curious and Moana knows that tone. It's the tone Maui takes on when he's about to do something crazy.

Moana looks out over the sea as well. It looks dark still, even though there are no clouds in sight. She walks through the dampened sand and crouches beside the gentle waves. They aren't making the sound she loves to hear, the soft _swish swish_ she often falls asleep to. They aren't making much noise at all. She reaches down and touches the water. It's cold as it slips through her fingers. She feels a chill crawl up her spine. She steps back, almost losing her balance.

"Everything okay?" Maui asks, and she meets his concerned eye.

She wishes she could say yes.

"Whatever did this," she starts, walking forward and addressing her people. "I'm going to find out. I'm going to get our canoes back."

Maui leans over, nudging her shoulder. "Um, Curly, not to be a buzzkill, but no canoes — no sea travel."

"Moana," her mother starts.

"How—" Tui's stern, authoritative voice breaks through all the commotion. "—will you do this exactly?"

Her shoulders sink as her eyes lower, contemplating. "I'm not sure..." There's gotta be some way. Maybe they could all work together to build one sturdy canoe in a span of a few weeks.

"You're _not_ riding on my back, by the way," Maui says, and Moana only half hears him.

There's gotta be at least a raft, maybe, something they could use to —

"I got it!" She exclaims. "What about Grandpa Nākoa's canoe? The one he used to fish beyond the reef?" Her late Grandpa Nākoa used to have his very own canoe that he built with a few of his friends, and he used it to sail past the reef and bring back exotic fish to his family and to the village. It was small, about the size of the canoe Moana had come to call her own, the canoe she first voyaged with. They didn't keep in locked up in the cove because it was too small to travel great distances with.

"It's too small, it'll never be able to take you where you need to go," Tui refutes, shaking his head.

"It's too dangerous, Moana," her mother adds, coming forward and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"I can do it," Moana affirms, suddenly overcome with the need to go, to fix what's wrong, the same way she felt when Grandma Tala gave her the knowledge of the stolen heart. "Please." She doesn't want to disobey her parents' wishes again, but she knows if they won't allow her, she will have no choice. Sina's arm falls back down to her side. Neither of them show any sign of protesting the situation further, and that is all Moana needs. She sees the worry in their eyes and feels her heart well up with courage. She can do this.

"I promise you, Maui and I—" (had there really been any question that it would be the two of them again?) "will find out who did this, and we will find out what really caused that storm." Now, Moana was more certain than ever that it wasn't just some freak change of weather. Something was terribly wrong.

 

The little neglected boat sits beside a narrow stream in a clearing close to where they fetch their drinking water. It takes Moana, Hohona and several men from the village to haul it up and carry it down to the shore. Maui insisted he could carry it alone but Moana ignored him. Holding it high up, Moana catches Hohona's eye only once before he looks away. She knew how he felt about Maui. He was jealous, she could tell. Jealous that she chose to spend all of her free time with the selfish, headstrong demigod. It was easy to see Maui that way. On the surface, he certainly was those things. But she knew him better than anyone else did. And deep down he was kind and selfless. Okay, deep _deep_ down.

Hohona's silent disapproval doesn't sit too well under Moana's skin. She really didn't need _another_ reason to feel guilty.

She shuts those thoughts away as she hugs her parents goodbye. A few of the villagers packed baskets of food and they load the boat with them. Moana feels a nudge at her feet and she looks down. Pua gazes up at her with huge, forlorn eyes. Moana bends down and pets his head.

"I'll be back soon, I promise," she comforts him and he pushes into her hand.

Maui hops aboard the boat, instantly at home, and prepares to set sail.

Time is of the essence, so Moana climbs up and joins him.

This time, she has a chance to wave goodbye to her family and to her people. She feels an air of confidence inside her that she lacked before. She feels her entire island behind her, supporting her. She feels their faith like a pair of arms, lifting her up. She can do this, for them. For Motunui.


End file.
